English
decan
Decan comes from Late Latin decānus ‘chief of ten people’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*déḱm̥1‘ten’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dekəm1‘ten’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdecem1‘ten’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEdecānus2‘chief of ten people’
- Englishtodaydecan2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin decanus
- 2 Wiktionary, English decan
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*déḱm̥Wiktionary, Latin decanus‘ten’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dekəmWiktionary, Latin decanus‘ten’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdecemWiktionary, Latin decanus‘ten’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEdecānusWiktionary, English decan‘chief of ten people’
- EnglishtodaydecanWiktionary, English decan
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥ ‘ten’
ten, century, cent, hundred, dick, sen, decade, hectare, tenfold, dinero, 48 more
through Proto-Italic *dekəm ‘ten’
den, diner, denier, dwt, 19 more
through Latin decem ‘ten’
dozen, decimal, dicker, deni, 19 more
through Late Latin decānus ‘chief of ten people’
Today it means
noun One of a collection of 36 small constellations or zodiacal subdivisions that appear heliacally at intervals of 10 days or are separated by approximately 10 degrees.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “decan”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin decanus. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥ / decan